Do you mysqueeze?

When Roland Kreiter won the ‘Pure Creativity’ competition by mydeco.com in 2009 with his design for a juicer that could be manufactured using 3D rapid-protoyping, judge Philippe Starck immediately saw the design’s potential. Not only did Starck give Kreiter a prestigious internship working at the designer’s Paris studio, he also picked up the phone to Alberto Alessi and told him he’d found his next iconic juicer.

Alberto Alessi said, “This seemed to me like a worthy tribute to “Juicy Salif” (1990), the most controversial Citrus-squeezer of the twentieth century.”

To celebrate the launch of the mysqueeze citrus squeezer, designed by Roland Kreiter for Alessi, mydeco.com searched for filmmakers to create a short film showcasing the product that Kreiter created.

The four winners of the competition won the opportunity to make their film and have it shown on mydeco.com. From narrative films inspired by American Psycho to conceptual films focusing on the shape, the filmmakers challenge our perception of what mysqueeze is and made it a desirable object. Here is my favourite film…

Florinda chairs by DePadova

Monica Förster has created some fantastic contemporary products for companies such as Modus, Poltrona Frau, Cappellini and De Padova. Based in Stockholm her work has a strong sense of pure form mixed with a never-ending curiosity for new materials and technology.

The Florinda chair, designed in 2011, is a mixture of beech wood and plastic combined in a simple shape that was conceived to erase the boundaries between zones, and lends itself to a wide range of different interpretations: from the dining area to the home studio, it can also easily adapt to restaurants, cafes and public areas, due to its contemporary look and versatility.

millimeter/milligram

MMMG, that is, Millimeter Milligram from Seoul create products that draw out the small details and sensibility of our daily lives bringing that all together to create a niche brand to coo over. Well, I cooed over it.

Korean stationery designers MMMG have become increasingly popular in the global market with retail points in Japan and Australia as well as Colette in Paris. They stock a colourful range of postcards, notepads, calendars, wallets, key holders and mugs.

My friends at Crane.tv visited the MMMG head office in trendy Itaewon to chat with creative director Myoung Yu and designer Kyung Hwa Lee about their secret formula behind their success.

At her Majesty’s pleasure

I am a big supporter of the work by Fine Cell Work with their quirky and original creations, it is so wonderful to see this voluntary effort paying off for them.

At the London Design Festival, they took up residence (once again) at Tom Dixon’s The Dock to unveil a new design by Mr Dixon and handmade by prisoners. His ‘At her Majesty’s pleasure’ cushion is the latest to be added to the parade of exclusive handmade items.

Mairi Duthie, director of Fine Cell Work, said: “The charity was set up as a means of giving people a way of spending their time during periods of enforced idleness in their cells. The prisoners are taught to sew by volunteers. They get to this very high level of skill, and it means they have contact with the outside world.”

A respectable 75% of all their work is produced by men and 20 hours per week, on average, is spent by the stitchers doing embroidery in their cells. The highest earners stitch for as long as 40 hours! This is a cause well worth supporting.

Vessel lamp by Samuel Wilkinson

After the success of his award-winning Plumen lightbulb, Samuel Wilkinson turned his attention to a new home for the already iconic energy-efficient bulb and created the Vessel series for London-based design studio Decode London.

The lamp from mouth-blown glass, cut at a slant with all of the perfect imperfections that come with hand-made glass pieces that give each object its own personality. When illuminated the glass tint mutes the light without hiding the form and produces an unexpected irregular reflection that appears holographic.

The Vessel Series consists of three mouth-blown forms. The designs were produced specifically to complement the flowing forms of the Plumen 001 designed with Hulger.

Buy now, keep forever

Marketing campaigns don’t often grab me. They are often expensive, over-produced and missing the point but occasionally I see something that stands out for its simplicity to get to the heart of why someone would buy a product and says it so succinctly, I had to stop and snap a photo.

Whether I would drop £180 for a stool is one thing, but I often find people buy products on how they look and what they cost rather than heritage and quality. The Aalto stool 60 might be a tremendously more expensive than the IKEA copy but if style is all that is copied, what purpose does it serve? I guess that what it does do is bring a design that is out of the reach for many to a price point that they can afford, although along the way it devalues the original product and those that could afford it no longer see the reason to.

This is a problem that faces most furniture manufacturers making products that will last from materials that are ethically sourced and made by people that are appropriately rewarded. IKEA have made statements previously that they cannot guarantee that the wood they use has been sourced from legal forestries. I can’t comprehend how a company with so many unethical policies can have such a reach amongst us. It is about time that the original sources stood up and made a strong statement.

Buy now, keep forever. Could you say that about a purchase from IKEA?